Teachable Moments: Rudyard Kipling's words were not enough to preserve the British Empire

3:21 AM,
Dec. 30, 2013

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In 1893, just as he was on the verge of becoming one of the most popular writers in the world, Rudyard Kipling wrote:

"A scholar might get more pleasure out of his life than an army officer, but only little children believe that a man's life is given him to decorate with pretty little things, as though it were a girl's room or a picture screen."

In 1942, six years after his death, Kipling's fame had reversed. He was no longer respected as an advocate for duty, but considered an apologist for the hubris and excesses of the British Empire. Yet author and imperial cynic Eric Blair (whose pen name was George ...